A horrific accident killed a little girl and shut down northbound Highway 85 for hours on Monday near Cupertino. Three other crash victims were taken to the hospital.

When you look at the images it is hard to see how anyone survived this accident, but the people believed to be the mother of the little girl who died and her brother are at Valley Medical Center along with the man who hit them from behind.

"It's never easy to see a collision of that magnitude, especially when there's children involved," said CHP Sgt. Erica Elias.

Investigators aren't sure why, but the 47-year-old Cupertino woman, believed to be the mother of two young passengers, parked her Mazda minivan on the shoulder of northbound Highway 85. It was about 3:30 p.m. when a Jeep Wrangler ran off the road and crashed into the rear end of their minivan.

"The Jeep did travel on to the shoulder and partially onto that dirt embankment and then the front of the Jeep collided into the minivan, then he continued to overturn and she traveled across all lanes of the freeway," said Elias.

The CHP says a young girl who appeared to be around 5 years old died on impact even though she was strapped into a car seat. Her older brother, believed to be under 10 years of age, was sitting in a booster chair and suffered moderate injuries. The woman suffered minor injuries.

The CHP says the driver of the Jeep Wrangler is a 56-year-old man from San Jose who had major injuries.

"It's unknown how fast he was traveling, and why he was swerving and why he was on the shoulder," said Elias.

Another Jeep SUV ran into the minivan, but the driver escaped injury. The CHP says it's not sure if the minivan had mechanical problems, but they say drivers should avoid parking on the shoulder of the freeway unless they have no other choice.